A God's Fall

In Weise's view, if "dominating Yaxiu" counted as an ability, their ranking from highest to lowest would be: Weise > Vichy > Diya > Sonia. Mind you, this merely described the degree of their skill, not their practical combat prowess. When it came to combat effectiveness, Sonia was undeniably the supreme champion with unrivaled damage output; Yaxiu stood virtually no chance before her. If people found the idea of the Divine Lord of Stars sharing the world with Yaxiu far too reckless to believe, then should Yaxiu become the Sorcery Supreme in the future and hand over the world entirely to Sonia, everyone would take it for granted. Rather than calling her Yaxiu's lover or comrade-in-arms, she was more like his spiritual anchor. Yet that had nothing to do with Sonia's ability. If you were walking down the street and a great treasure fell right onto your head, could you claim it was a testament to your talent and hard work? Weise was utterly certain that none of the girls—not just the operators, but even the absent ones like the Veela, Black Crow, or Purple Moth—would ever acknowledge Sonia's standing based on merit. In terms of time spent together, in terms of shared adventures, everyone had more weight than the Sword Princess; even Vichy wouldn't pale beside her. The Sword Princess's sole advantage was time. And yet, time decided everything. They had met at the most wonderful time, both at their best, and so they possessed the most wonderful story—one no one could ever replace. Sonia had no need to ponder how to dominate Yaxiu, just as Yaxiu never thought about how to control Sonia. From the bottom of their hearts, they both believed they belonged to each other. Not sharing, not fifty-fifty, not mutual support—it was "every part of me belongs to you." Yet perhaps precisely because of this, Sonia displayed a sincerity before Yaxiu that completely contradicted her usual character. She was clearly the sly, scheming type with a touch of malice, perfectly at home delivering passive-aggressive jabs wrapped in sweetness. Yet she never played mind games with Yaxiu. Every emotion was written plain on her face. When she lost her temper, she was genuinely furious; when she acted coquettish, it was pure, unfeigned tenderness. In fact, relying on Yaxiu's favoritism toward her, Sonia had every means and capability to drive all the other girls away. The simplest method was merely to constantly provoke conflicts with the other operators. When tensions escalated to the point where an ultimatum had to be made, would Yaxiu have any other choice? If the arena of love were compared to a battlefield, any girl standing opposite Sonia had already lost, because Yaxiu would never let Sonia lose. Sonia could have easily obtained everything she wanted, as long as she surrendered that shred of softness in her heart and learned to be ruthless toward Yaxiu. Yet she hadn't. She seemed to believe that so long as she gave her genuine heart, she would never be betrayed. She made no effort to conceal her thoughts. She was like a general leading ten thousand troops to besiege a city, yet refusing to send emissaries to demand surrender, refusing to compromise, and utterly refusing to resort to scheming and intrigue. Instead, she chose to torment both sides, waiting until the enemy ran out of food and ammunition, or her own forces collapsed, or a miracle occurred. The Sword Princess had squandered her own good fortune, nor did she deserve to hoard this treasure alone. 'Still, do I have the right to judge Sonia?' Weise truly understood Yaxiu's personality and possessed a perfect insight into his thoughts. If Yaxiu were an emperor, Weise would be his seductive concubine, his treacherous minister. From the moment she stepped into the tent, all of Yaxiu's reactions had been within her calculations, proceeding entirely at her pace. Weise had even anticipated that Yaxiu would suppress his primal impulses and try to dissuade her, yet in the end, he had succumbed like a wild beast to his instincts, choosing to punish her. Despite Yaxiu being so promiscuous he seemed like he had crawled out of a dumpster, he was an extraordinarily disciplined man who would never let lust overpower reason. If he were truly a scumbag, Vichy would have dominated him long ago. When one thought about it, as an ordinary man, he had resisted the Spectre Prophet's seductive service for half a year without letting her catch the slightest leverage on him. On the path of abstaining from lust, Yaxiu had walked further than any of them. Therefore, to breach the ramparts of his rationality, one could only erode his defenses through emotion. To Yaxiu, nothing touched his soul more deeply than regret, for along his journey he had experienced far too much of it. All his reason, all his forbearance, came crashing down under Weise's repeated self-indictments. Never able to bear offspring, imprisoned forever in dark Senluo, unable to obtain what she desired, close enough to touch yet impossibly out of reach, yet regarding her suffering as punishment and her regrets as retribution... Beyond igniting his own love, what other way did Yaxiu have to make up for Weise's regrets? Everything had gone smoothly, but Weise's plan went beyond this. Because a god possessed no physiological functions. Gods merely looked human, but were ultimately lifeforms of law. Since they lacked reproductive capability, they naturally had no conventional physiological functions. In theory, no matter what Yaxiu did, Weise wouldn't feel a thing. Aside from the dream during her breakthrough to demigod where she had experienced the bliss of complete blending, her usual intimate interactions with Yaxiu were more about satisfying spiritual needs. Yet Weise had never told Yaxiu this. After all, a trump card had to be saved for the crucial moment to secure victory—which was right now. To make Yaxiu understand even more profoundly that he was her "instrument of torture," Weise planned to remain calm throughout. Although she would actively accommodate him, once Yaxiu cooled down, he would discover that he couldn't actually make up for Weise's regrets. Weise could already picture Yaxiu holding her with a sorrowful expression. Then she would tell him, "Being punished by you makes me feel alive." A strong sense of responsibility would be enough to make Yaxiu cast aside all principles. From then on, even if Weise didn't seek him out, he would frequently come to her to pour in his love. With just a little guidance from Weise, Yaxiu would inevitably become more and more unrestrained around her, since he wouldn't need to worry about her feelings. Once a certain line was crossed, she would make Yaxiu realize that aside from her, a god, no one else could satisfy him. At that stage, even if she still couldn't replace the Sword Princess, she could become Yaxiu's new spiritual anchor. Sometimes Weise wondered if it was truly necessary to please Yaxiu to such an extent. But every time she interacted with him, Yaxiu gave her an affirmative answer. Because being loved by Yaxiu was a wonderful happiness, and the only happiness she could possess now. Weise hadn't lied. To her, Yaxiu truly was her instrument of torture, but at the same time, her salvation. Even if it was merely spiritual love, she was willing to protect this tiny bit of happiness at all costs. That had been the plan. But... Weise's body jolted violently. Her back arched stiffly, the arches of her feet tensed, and she clamped a hand tightly over her mouth. Her eyes grew misty with tears, blurred with a longing like rippling spring waters. *Aren't gods supposed to feel nothing?!* *Why am I so... I get it, it's source energy! Yaxiu used source energy to heighten my sensitivity! Source energy can even be used like this?!* *Wait, isn't Yaxiu bound by the shadow sword curse? Forget source energy, he shouldn't even be able to circulate sorcery energy! Is this his near-instinctive skill of dominance?!* *Calm down, stay calm! Stick to the plan! Stay calm the entire time! Show him this is torture, so Yaxiu's sense of responsibility is aroused...* *But how could I possibly stay calm?!* *Even without looking in a mirror, I know how shameful I look right now! No matter how dense Yaxiu is, he wouldn't think I'm undergoing torture! The plan has completely failed! Now I can only...* Inside the tent, muffled, desperate whimpers broke out. Her tearful eyes glistening behind her spectacles, the bespectacled beauty hugged Yaxiu, peppering him with kisses, and begged in a limp, melting voice, "Stop, stop... please stop for a second..."